The map of the yummiest PLUM CAKE~~~

You can only find the yummiest plum cake in Nanjing. Please don’t start to have a debate with me. Let me show you.

Plum cake has originated since Ming Dynasty. When plum cake developed till Qing Dynasty, it became the most famous desert specialty in the south of Yangzi River. Plum cake was named after the adventure of emperor chien lung, since the cake shaped like a plum blossom.

Plum cake was made by blending quality flour, baking powder and water until they became paste. After the paste is ready, you pour the paste into plum-shape moulds. Then you can choose whatever filling you love to fill in the center of the plum moulds, following by covering up the top with the prepared paste. The last step is to sprinkle some white sugar, green and red melon slices, and black sesame.

These steps read easy, but the real distinctions that differentiate the tasty plum cake and non-tasty ones are the freshness of the fillings. While you have many options to fill the plum cake with red bean paste, pork, rose petals and many other kinds, the most classic and my favorite one is the red bean paste. Restaurants usually choose to buy a large bag of cooked red bean paste in the supermarket to make plum cakes, which adds extra sweetness and heaviness to the cake. In comparison, some of the most popular food stands along the streets in Nanjing make the red bean paste from fresh red bean every time before they fill the paste into hot moulds. This one tiny difference separates the authentic from the crowed.  Even better, some food stands, for instance, the one that I went quite often before, mix the fresh red bean paste with black sesame paste. When you have a bite, god! It’s incredible and speechless, and what you can only say is that it’s a perfect winter desert. Indeed, some smart food stands mix little sticky balls and dates with flour paste as toppings. You could imagine the flavor! I am drooling now…

If you had a chance to visit Nanjing, here are the most highly rated plum-cake stands in Nanjing:

• Plum Cake: No.159 Longpan Rd., Xuanwu District (Inside Nanjing Forestry University)
• Mr. Wei Plum Cake: No.9 Matai St., Gulou District (near West Liuwan Park), Mobile: 13327816780
• Chef Zuo Plum Cake: Matai St. (near Tongjia xiangkou), Mobile: 13057604099
• Plum Cake: Nanjing University, Hankou Rd., Gulou District

Nanjing Cooked Food Stall (南京大排档)- Retain the Old Flavor

It’s my first time to celebrate the Spring Festival abroad without my family. Though the Spring Festival here in NYC is exotic and blended with vibrancy, I can’s stop thinking of the specialties in my hometown Nanjing – Nanjing Da Pai Dang!

Nanjing DaPaiDang (ND) was open up in 1994 in Nanjing, a Southeast city of China. Now its popularity has reached out to the capital city Beijing. When you enter ND, the outfit of the waiters and their iconic welcoming words with a distinctive accent, and ND’s décor will immediately transcend you into the restaurant cafés existed in the late Qin Dynasty and early Republic (around 1911) in China.  The outfits of the staffs there indicate their roles, whether they are cooks, waiters, waitresses, bartenders, or performers. The décor mimic the bustling food streets in the 1900s with “cooks” hawking about their scrumptious specialties. In ND you can either choose someone to take your order or hanging around with your table tag to order at your favorite stand. Personally it’s more fun to come to the your favorite food stall where you can see the live cooking process and a tempting presentation of all kinds of dishes you can get. Once you finish struggling and finally decide what you’d love to eat, show your table tag to the boasting cook, they will note down your table number in the small order device. When you finish the live order, make sure you can find your way back to the table in the crowd since the food could be on your table already, and you certainly don’t want your food lacks bites after someone passes by your table.

Here are four ND’s signature specialties that you can find nowhere with that level of authenticity in the world-

Handmade taro balls with soup cooking in ancient style—Award-winning traditional desert in China:

Tiny sticky balls/cubes with red bean and fermented-rice wine– My favorite dish and unforgettable hometown flavor!!! Plus, this dish is particularly healthy for women during their “special days”. Luckily, I can cook this desert:

King steamed bun filled with roasted duck – the most distinctive and creative steamed bun ever, you can only eat the authentic one in Nanjing rather than other branches. You’ll certainly miss the appetite organism after the first speechless and juicy bite. Look around, you should be surprised if you can’t find stacks of empty steamers around you:

Large meatball – We call it “the lion’s head”. Don’t be afraid. It’s only because its incredible size and taste. If you close your eyes while you are having the first bite. It’s hard to tell if it’s meat or tofu or mix of other kinds. The only thing you can describe to a friend: how can the “big ball” taste sooo f***ing good?

Last but a must thing to remember: Do not just lost yourself in the food. Try to enjoy Chinese traditional musical storytelling: Suzhou Pingtan.